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Prince George's initiative awards millions in grants to help small businesses during COVID


Maximum Physical therapy is one of the small businesses that{ }Prince George's County has awarded millions to through the county's business recovery initiative.{ } Friday, Sept. 4, 2020. (ABC7 photo){ }
Maximum Physical therapy is one of the small businesses that Prince George's County has awarded millions to through the county's business recovery initiative. Friday, Sept. 4, 2020. (ABC7 photo)
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Prince George's County has awarded more than $20 million to small businesses through the county's business recovery initiative, the county executive's office announced.

"We touched every conceivable business industry type in Prince George's County and more importantly we touched the demographics we anticipated would be hardest hit," said Shelly Gross-Wade. She is the president and CEO of Prince George's FSC First.

In addition to touching a number of industries, the county also reached a diverse group of business owners.

According to their records, of the 596 small businesses to receive funding, 78 percent are minority-owned, 43 percent are owned by women, six percent are owned by Latinos, and five percent are owned by veterans.

"That's who we typically want to reach out and touch with our core programs and services, and it was just evident that those were the same population that was the greatest harmed by this COVID pandemic," said Gross-Wade.

"This was not just looking at dollars and cents and the bottom line or the tax return. This was a group of professionals understanding that they were saving jobs, saving companies, and in some cases, saving lives," said David Iannucci.

He's the CEO and president of Prince George's County Economic Development Corporation.

When it comes to saving jobs, he estimates 3,090 jobs were saved by the program. Maximum Performance Physical Therapy is one of the businesses that benefitted.

CFO Kevin Rich says his company received $100,000 from the Prince George's County Business Recovery Initiative.

"$100,000 for us is about a month's rent and payroll. Approximately," he said. "It's a huge deal because those are the biggest costs for our business."

Not only did it help with his employees, but it also helped meet the needs of people relying on his company's services.

"If they just had that knee replacement and they don't get into physical therapy, whether with us or someone else and follow a plan of care, they're going backward and there was no reason to have the surgery," said Rich.

Part of the grant means he also had to apply for the federal Paycheck Protection Program.

"There's no county on the planet that can solve the COVID economic crisis by itself," said Iannucci.

Rich was fortunate to receive funding from that source as well.

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